Posterior inter-body fusion in lumbar spine surgery: A systematic review

AbstractBackgroundPosterolateral fusion (PLF) is a common method for achieving fusion in lumbar spine surgery. Posterior lumbar inter-body fusion (PLIF) has been reported to give a higher fusion rate and a better functional and clinical outcome.ObjectivesThe objective of the review was to determine whether PLIF is more effective than PLF in improving clinical and radiological outcomes in adults surgically treated for degenerative lumbar spine conditions.MethodsElectronic databases, bibliographies and relevant journals were searched systematically, and a meta-analysis was conducted.ResultsOf 2798 citations identified, five studies met our inclusion criteria; none was a randomized controlled trial. A total of 148 patients had undergone PLIF (intervention) and 159 PLF (control). Pooled meta-analyses showed that non-union rates were lower in the intervention group (relative risk (RR), 0.22; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.08–0.62). The intervention group had significantly heavier disc height (weighted mean difference, 3.2mm; 95% CI, 1.9–4.4) and less residual percentage slippage (weighted mean difference, 6.3%; 95% CI, 3.9–8.7) at final follow-up. No significant difference in segmental or total lumbar lordosis was seen. Because of the heterogeneity of the results, no conclusion could be drawn about the functional benefits of the two procedures.ConclusionThis review suggests that PLIF results in a higher fusion rate and better correction of certain radiographic aspects of deformity than PLF. It also showed a slight but nonsignificant trend towards a better functional outcome with PLIF. The lack of randomized controlled trials and the methodological limitations of the available studies indicate the need for a sufficiently large, methodologically sound study with clinically relevant outcome measures. Until this has been done, the evidence for the beneficial effects of posterior inter-body fusion should be interpreted with caution

Media Means and Its Role in Shaping the Behaviors and Awareness of Arab Youth

The paper has handled with identifying media means, media theories, the behaviors and awareness of Arab youth and the role of media in shaping the behaviors and awareness of Arab youth. The problem of the current paper is to identify the role of media in shaping the behavior and awareness of Arab youth. The descriptive method has been used to gain an accurate and detailed knowledge of the role of media in shaping the behavior and awareness of Arab youth as a subject of study, and to achieve a better and more accurate understanding of the content related to it and determining their significances. The paper concluded that media's ability to influence the amount of the Arab youth's awareness and influence their behavior did not come from a vacuum; it came from the large role that the media has played in supplying Arab youth with information. The results of the paper have shown that media has a significant impact in shaping the behavior and the amount of the Arab youth's awareness; it contributes in developing the knowledge and different cultures, and contributes in upbringing the young Arabs. The researcher has clarified that the issue of facing and trying to limit the impact of Media modes on the family and the community, especially on the Arab youth, should not be only limited in special occasions and seasons. In addition, the researcher clarified that because of the media's importance and its role in shaping the attitudes and awareness of Arab youth, there must be a continuous talking about it, and a continuing attempt to address its effects. Keywords: Media means, Arab youth, behaviors, awareness

Guide for Sustainable Design of NEOM City

Urban planners and architects have concerned about the architectural style and theme of the NEOM city, because most of the new cities in the area seemed to be a generic city, no one wants to have another Dubai, Manhattan and Singapore. So what is the best code or development guideline should a new city in the area of Saudi Arabia should fallow to become the most sustainable city without losing the Saudi’s identity? This thesis research will provide a form-based code guide for sustainable development of NEOM City in Saudi Arabia for architectural character based on research and analysis of some case studies that can be helpful for NEOM also the author’s own experience since I am from Saudi Arabia. Also, it will develop some sustainable suggestions based on analysis case studies in terms of water treatment, energy and waste management. NEOM is a new city in the North-Western of Saudi Arabia by the Red Sea and includes territory from Jordan and Egypt as well. The government of Saudi Arabia wants to build it from scratch towards new challenge 2030 vision for new kind of tomorrow and a new blueprint for sustainable life on a scale that never been experienced before1. This thesis will provide a guide for sustainable design of NEOM City. Also, this proposal will address the Saudi vernacular architecture, sustainable new urbanism and 21th-century technology. The reason for this proposal because residential buildings, commercial and landmarks make up most of the urban fabric of any city. NEOM city would be smart, green and sustainable city; also, with Saudi’s architecture identity and old technique such as passive cooling, MEOM will have the best architecture and urban design combination ever. The research will address the smart growth code and how NEOM will add Saudi’s identity to it and make the most of it for a futuristic city. New urbanism movement will impact NEOM city in positive ways such as improve environment quality, enhance walkability and provide diverts affordable housing options

Development of lab-on-a-chip technology for the analysis of ions in natural waters

There is a demand for portable in-situ measurement systems for measuring ions in environmental water samples. Commercially available flow injection analysis systems are not easy to install, have high power requirements, and use large volumes of reagents. Miniaturising the measurements is promising, and quite successful microfluidic automated systems have been developed. These systems, however, tend to only measure one species at a time, and what is really required is a portable system that simultaneously measures several anions and cations. The aim of this thesis was, therefore, to develop a novel analytical device that has the ability to measure several nutrient levels in water samples in-situ, at high-frequency measurements, by miniaturising the sample preparation and measurement. The system involved: ion extraction, ion separation, and detection with a C4D contactless conductivity detector. This analytical system to be developed needs to be able to replace the current, typical system being used in the field.To avoid the effects of the sample matrix on the separation process, the extraction of ions from the sample before separation, was investigated. Different ion extraction approaches were explored, including ion extraction through a potassium silicate monolith and electrodialysis. The potassium silicate monolith was used to extract ions from water samples; this worked as a barrier to prevent unwanted materials present in the river water from entering the measurement system. The presence of these materials would influence the separation process.Extraction techniques using the potassium silicate monolith were investigated, using both glass chips and glass capillaries. To prevent the electroosmotic flow (EOF) caused by the negative charge on the surface of the glass and the monolith, the surface was silanised. Three different silanisation methods were investigated: trichloro perfluorooctyl silane (FDTS), a commercial coating, and an end-capping procedure. The extraction of the ions was achieved with all three of the silanisation methods but greater reproducibility was needed.Electrodialysis (ED) was examined to see if it could provide a more reproducible sample introduction method. The advantage of this method was that it could be effectively combined with electrophoresis (CE) for rapid pre-concentration and the subsequent determination of inorganic ions in the river water. Different ED techniques were investigated for extracting the inorganic ions. This involved exploring different membranes including polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), Parafilm, cellulose acetate, and ion-exchange membranes. Different ED systems were evaluated, including a commercial flow design and microfluidic chips manufactured from cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), with both single and multiple membranes.The cellulose acetate membrane provided good results for cation extraction from a real river water sample. Sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium were extracted at 85%, 45%, 23%, and 10%, respectively. The anion-exchange (AEX) membrane in the ED system was successful and demonstrated good results. Cation extraction with a single cation-exchange (CEX) membrane also provided good results.Several ED microfluidic chips were designed to improve the extraction, using the ion-exchange membranes. In this system, a gold electrode was used and positive results were obtained for both anions and cations, and the anion extraction was demonstrated using a real river water sample. Five anions were extracted: respectively comprised sulphate 65%, phosphate with 31%, 82% for chloride, nitrite with 10% and nitrate with 6%.Initial work on the separation of the inorganic ions concentrated on a monolithic column, as reported in the literature. For the separation of anions, two different anion exchangers were investigated, lysine and DDAB. The monoliths were prepared in-house and were then coated with the anion exchanger. A commercial C18 monolith was used to compare the results obtained from the homemade monolithic column. Problems were encountered with the coated monoliths, especially in terms of high back pressures, and it was decided that capillary electrophoresis (CE) would provide a better separation solution and would more easily integrate with the ED ion extraction.A proposed design of an integrated system was presented including the pumps that are required, the reagents, and the energy use. The proposed integrated system only required one buffer for all processes in the system, which reduces the environmental impact of the chemical reagents. The suitability of the buffer (MES/His) was extensively investigated, and the amount needed for a month was also calculated to be less than 3 L, which is ideal for the system portability. It was also calculated that the required power could be provided by a battery, although the inclusion of solar panels would be advantageous.The proposed integrated system meets most of the requirements of the project, and promising results were obtained. Further optimisation of the design will focus on increasing the robustness of field applications

An overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports industry: Causes, implications, and options

The effects of COVID-19 are being felt throughout the world’s health, educational, financial, and commercial institutions, and the sports ecosystem is no exception. Matches and competitions are being cancelled or postponed, disrupting planning by governing bodies, organizers, teams and athletes — as well as non-stop live sports content we have come to expect. Owners, broadcasters, and sponsors are trying to navigate the impacts and implications of event cancellations and modifications. In a frenetic one-month period, countless sporting events — local, national or international — have been postponed at best or cancelled at worst. No sporting events were spared, even the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the UEFA EURO 2020 have been postponed until 2021. The corona virus outbreak has left host cities in total disarray with no option but to revise their plans. More than 84% of host cities surveyed believe that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all sports events planned for this year. However, when asked about the future, 58% think that the virus outbreak will only have a minor impact in 2021. In other words, host cities expect that things will soon get back to normal

Introducing inter-professional education in curricula of Saudi health science schools: An educational projection of Saudi Vision 2030

AbstractRecently, the Saudi government initiated plans to improve both the health care system and health profession education. Providing optimal care in health care institutions requires health care providers from different services to collaborate and interact. Evidence-based research has shown that optimizing the interactions and communication between health care workers improves patient outcomes and reduces medical errors. The use of interprofessional education (IPE) in undergraduate health profession programmes in some Western universities has been found to be an effective tool for improving communication and interaction between health care providers. This paper addresses the possibility of introducing IPE into health profession education in KSA to support Saudi Vision 2030

Investigating the Relationship between faculty perception of educational technology and the level of technology integration into teaching and learning

There are three main research goals of this study. The first one is to examine the level of technology integration into teaching by Saudi university faculty members. The second goal of this study is to investigate Saudi university faculty members’ perceptions of educational technology. The third and most important one is to investigate whether there is a relationship between faculty perception of educational technology and the level of technology integration into teaching and learning. A quantitative approach was employed to organize, collect, test and analyze the data. Analysis of self-report survey data from 306 Saudi university faculty members showed that Saudi university faculty members use technology in their teaching at three different levels of the T3 technology integration model; the most used level is the translational level (M = 5.35, SD = .499), the second most used is the transformational level (M = 4.8, SD = .84), and the third most used is the transcendent level (M = 4.6, SD = 1.10). Five educational technology concepts were examined to investigate Saudi university faculty members’ perceptions of educational technology. The overall trend of the findings of this section suggests that there is no definite answer. Therefore, we cannot conclude whether there is misconception or not. For the first four concepts, the mean of the answer centered around 3 (somewhat disagree). Onley the fifth concept confirmed a trend toward the disagreement, meaning that there is misconception or misunderstanding about this concept. Regression analysis found that there is a relationship between the perceptions of educational technology and educational technology integration by faculty members in Saudi Arabia. By and large, all regression models in this study were statistically significant, indicating that perception concepts are good at predicting the level of technology integration into teaching

Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Late Jurassic Hanifa Formation along the Tuwaiq Escarpment, Saudi Arabia

A sequence stratigraphic framework of the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) Hanifa Formation at its exposure in Central Arabia is presented for the first time. This study offers the first high-resolution stratigraphic framework of the Hanifa along the Tuwaiq Escarpment by measuring 15 sections (~770 m total thickness) over an oblique-to-dip distance of 260 km and collecting 295 samples for petrographic analysis. On the basis of these data, the Hanifa Formation can be subdivided into eight facies; 1) tabular cross-bedded quartz-peloidal-skeletal grainstone, 2) cross-bedded skeletal-peloidal grainstone, 3) bioturbated foraminiferal wackestone/mud-dominated packstone, 4) oncolitic rudstone, 5) stromatoporoid-coral biostrome/bioherm, 6) peloidal/composite-grain grain-dominated packstone/grainstone, 7) bioturbated spiculitic wackestone/mud-dominated packstone, and 8) thinly-bedded argillaceous mudstone/wackestone. The vertical and lateral distributions of these facies along the exposure define their sequence setting using the principals of sequence stratigraphy. By recognizing erosional surfaces, facies offset, and changes in facies proportions, five composite sequences, with an average duration of 1.1 my, are interpreted for the Hanifa Formation. The correlation of the sequences across the study area shows that only four sequences are preserved in the north where shallow-water deposits are well-developed. Facies trends within these sequences are further illustrated in a depositional model, which depicts the presence of an offshore structurally controlled skeletal-peloidal shoal body described here for the first time at the Hanifa exposure in the Hozwa area. A ramp depositional model is proposed having normal open-marine conditions and characterized by a high-energy inner-ramp shoreline, which is documented herein for the first time. This work provides a predictive framework and outcrop analog for applications in hydrocarbon exploration and development. Furthermore, a basinal setting predicted to the south of the study area is a potential site for unconventional plays.Geological Science

Senior interior design students’ perceptions about distance learning in the shadow of COVID-19

Background: Like many international universities and institutions of higher education that have shifted the entire educational system from the traditional face-to-face education model to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, universities in Saudi Arabia have expended great effort to change the behavior of educators and students to accommodate the transition. This rapid shift has had a significant impact on students, especially in programs such as interior design, in which different practical courses are taught along with the theoretical ones. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the benefits and challenges senior interior design students experienced while taking their classes online.Design and Methods: The current paper has adopted a qualitative approach for assessing the data obtained. Semi-structured interview was used to collect all the needed information regarding participants’ opinions about distance learning.Results: Increased time to spend on assignments, reduction of costs to the student, and improvement in achievement of learning outcomes were the three main benefits students reported in their experience of distance learning. On the other hand, technical issues, changes in grade distribution, and changes in project types were identified as student concerns. Although students found many advantages in communicating with others remotely, some issues arose.Conclusions: Students expressed a preference for the hybrid learning method, or at least for having their exams, juries, and presentations on campus in person, not remotely

Elevated serum immunoglobulin G levels in patients with chronic liver disease in comparison to patients with autoimmune hepatitis

Background: Hypergammaglobulinemia is frequently observed in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) of different causes. On the other hand, elevated levels of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) are the best diagnostic marker for autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Thus, the ability to distinguish AIH patients from patients with other liver disease, especially patients with advanced liver cirrhosis, is important since most AIH patients will a have favorable treatment response if diagnosed properly. Objective: We conducted this study to evaluate the significance of elevated IgG levels in patients with nonautoimmune CLD and to compare these IgG levels with those in patients with AIH upon diagnosis. Setting and study population: The serum IgG levels in 27 patients with AIH determined at the time of diagnosis were compared to the serum IgG levels in 27 patients with other CLDs of variable severity at the King Abdul Aziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Severity of the disease was evaluated in all patients. Results: We found that the patients in the CLD group with decompensated cirrhosis had significantly higher serum IgG levels compared to the compensated CLD patients (p<0.02). In addition, the AIH patients had significantly higher serum IgG levels than the non-autoimmune hepatitis CLD patients and the decompensated cirrhosis patients in the CLD group (p<0.001 and p<0.044, respectively). Most patients with elevated serum IgG of the AIH group (67%) and the CLD group (75%) had significant hypergammaglobulinemia, not just isolated elevated IgG levels. Conclusion: Elevated serum IgG levels with hypergammaglobulinemia are commonly found in patients with advanced CLD. The differentiation of such cases from AIH is important in order to avoid misdiagnosis and confusion with AIH.Keywords: decompensated cirrhosis; hypergammaglobulinemia; chronic hepatitis C; compensated cirrhosi